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It is not an idealist's dream but a practical programme within Canada's ability, financially and practically ...
- Emmett Hall, Royal Commission on Health Services, 1964
Without accountability, democracy does not work.
- Janice Gross Stein, The Cult of Efficiency, 2001
Mr. Romanow has determined that Canadians would rather live with the imperfections of a publicly funded health care system than with the imperfections of private health care. We think he's right. Despite the erosion of confidence in our health care system, Romanow affirms that medicare, "Canada's post-war public miracle"1 is still our most "cherished" social program. More than that, he believes we can strengthen medicare by increasing its scope in home care, pharmacare, diagnostic services and Aboriginal health. We must persevere in this national dream, he urges. We must find the will, and the money, to sustain it.
This is a welcome but not surprising conclusion. The survival of public health care was fervently wished for in the mandate of Romanow's commission to "ensure over the long term the sustainability of a universally accessible, publicly funded health system."2 This has proven to be largely a notional exercise, a...